The Monsters Inside
by actress65
Summary: Faith Lacy knows she's a demigod, and she knows that life isn't easy and it just gets more complicated when that Son of Hades, Nico di Angelo, saves her life. (I suck at summaries, but the story so far is way better than it sounds :p)
1. Falling Down

Running from the monsters that were chasing me while my arm was bleeding wasn't easy, plus my stupid leg was hurt. It was especially hard running through a forest full of roots. "Little demigod, just give up." They would whisper in the shadows and I always would run faster. _Yes, demigod, I know, why couldn't I just be a regular mortal with a loving family? But no, I had to be on my own, traveling every day to get away from the endless hordes of monsters!_

For hours this would go on and then suddenly, I tripped on a tree and crashed down onto my arm, "Agh!" I exclaimed as I looked down at my arm, it was a weird mix of dried and now fresh blood. _So this is how the adventure of Faith Lacy is going to end?_

_No._

I fought to get up and every movement I made caused a whole new wave of pain to wash over me, each one worse than the last. Suddenly I heard a monster yell out behind me, "Stupid Son of Hades be gone!" I kept on trudging forwards at more of a limping walk, my leg hurt from the numerous times monsters had cut my on the leg, so of course I was limping. Who knows if whoever that was, was better than those monsters.

_Shelter, I have to find shelter!_ I thought as I walked on, the yells of monsters became softer and softer as I limped forwards. Though I had to sit down, my head was swimming and I couldn't take another step or else I would have collapsed. And without my permission for fear of monsters, my eyes closed out of exhaustion.

When I woke up I found myself in a cave, I looked down at my arm and I was bandaged up, "Huh?" I asked myself as I unsteadily tried to stand up, but a pair of hands gently stopped me, "Don't get up, you're still pretty weak." I squinted in the darkness to try to figure out who was in the cave with me, "Who are you?" They boy laughed darkly, "That's not important, _who are you?_"

"Faith Lacy…" Now that my eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness I could see an outline of the boy, his dark eyes gleamed in the darkness and I asked, "Could you light a fire?" "Sure, but first, are you thirsty?" "No, I'm alright, right now all I need is a little bit of light."

The boy looked around fourteen or fifteen, I could see a lot of messy hair, but other than that no major details. He sat forward and in minutes he had a fire up and running. "Are you a demigod?" I asked and he raised his eyebrow, I shrugged and sat back sighing, "Sorry, it's just I heard those monsters say you were a Son of Hades." The boy crossed his arms, "Yeah, I'm a demigod; my bet is that you are too. I'll take you back to camp."

_Camp? _"No, I don't want to go any camp. I do better on my own." The boy rolled his eyes and lay down on the cave floor, "So am I, and you're going back to the camp." I really don't like being told what to do; the boy seemed to be falling asleep, so I made up my mind. Once he was asleep I would sneak away.

Then I noticed the sword. It was wickedly sharp, dark and I could feel it from here, it was cold as ice. _Okay Faith, you have to be extra careful sneaking away._ Finally after a while I convinced myself he was asleep and I got up, my head swam before my eyes, but I managed to stand.

When I was out of the cave I got breathed in the air, and noticed that it smelled salty, _we must be by the ocean._ I walked on away from the cave and realized that if I ran into any monsters I would be as good as dead, but I kept walking on. "Poor little demigod, all alone." A monster hissed behind me. It looked like a snake but I couldn't be sure in the dark.

I struggled to run but I did, and soon enough I came into a clearing. Then it stopped, it was a clear drop, at least a two hundred foot drop straight down to a beach. I stepped back and my feet hit the edge, the monster grinned knowing that I was cornered. That's when the boy burst into the clearing, his eyes were full of worry and anger, and I honestly thought he was going to push me off the cliff. He did something even more surprising; he stepped in front of me protectively.

Then six more snake ladies came into the clearing, the boy looked at them knowing that his odds weren't good. "Run Faith." He told me and I stood there, "No, I can't." "Fine, just stay out of my path." He charged the monster and slashed some of them and they evaporated into dust. Then when he was stabbing one of the monsters one came up behind him, "Look out!" I yelled but it was too late. It cut into his back and sent him flying to the cliff, "NO!" I yelled, the boy seemed knocked out from the hit as he tumbled over the cliff. I wouldn't be able to kill any monsters, and that left one option.

I jumped off the cliff and sailed to the boy. I grabbed him and wrapped my arms around him as I prepared to take the impact for him. He saved me, dressed my wounds, and I run away. He repays me by saving my life and all he got from it was a nasty cut in the back. If anything, he should live.

I looked at the ground and put my hands out instinctively, and the winds suddenly cushioned our fall. I hit the sand softly and looked at my hands in surprise then I stood up and tried something else, okay_ wind can you make me fly?_ I asked and sure enough it responded to my thoughts and it gently lifted me up. "Whoa."

The boy groaned and that brought me back to reality, I ran over to him. His cut seemed pretty bad; I didn't have any bandages or anything! Could this situation get any worse? The boy opened his eyes, "Faith, are we dead?" I laughed and sat down, relieved that he could at least talk, "No, I'll explain later." Before he closed his eye again he muttered, "By the way…I'm Nico di Angelo…" Then he fell asleep and I muttered, "Nico…"


	2. A Choice

Down the beach, while I was looking for a place where Nico and I would be safe from monsters I found a shack. _Perfect, it may not be a palace but it'll do._ I thought to myself as I made my way back to Nico. And finally after what seemed like hours I eventually dragged him into the shack and sat down covered in sweat. "You're heavier than you look." I muttered to no one, "Oh great now I'm talking to myself!"

"Not necessarily." I heard Nico mutter quietly and I looked up at him, he groaned, "Geez I haven't felt like this in a long time." "What do you mean?" I asked him as he stared at the ceiling, and he sighed, "I mean I haven't been this useless in a while, I mean you had to lug my butt into this shack." I laughed as I started to look around, there was about two rooms, and a kitchen. No bathroom.

I've gotten used to living without one, but you can't help but get hopeful.

In one of the room I found a first-aid set and I smiled,

"Nico, I found a first-aid set!"

"That great, do you know how to use it?!" he yelled back.

And I shrugged and then whispered, "Maybe how hard could it be?"

"I heard that!"

I couldn't help but laugh at his words; I pulled him to the room and helped him to the bed. "You okay so far?" He nodded, even though his forehead was beaded with sweat. I looked at his jacket and sighed, "This thing is so ripped up I don't think you can wear it anymore." Nico sighed and frowned, "That jacket and I have been through a lot…" then I helped him take it off and I sighed, "I'm sorry but I'm going to have to take off your shirt too."

Nico didn't seem too embarrassed by this; he seemed more annoyed, "Fine, will I have to get rid of my shirt too?" "Sadly." He frowned at me and his face was clear, _just get it over with._ Was the message I got from it. I removed his shirt; I had to keep my jaw closed.

He was RIPPED! This did two things

distract me from the task at hand

make a mental note never to get into a fight with him

He painfully sat up and I look at the claw marks, they had dug into his skin pretty deep and I looked at him with compassion, "This is going to hurt." He simply nodded as I pour the medicine to clean the wound over is back. He winced and arched his back, his fists clenched and then he slowly relaxed again. "Okay Nico, the worst is over, I'm sorry that hurt so much."

He looked at me over his shoulder and stared at me, "It's fine, with wounds everything hurts." He looked at the wall in front of him again and muttered: "Well at least the worst is over." Then I wrapped his wounds with a bandage which meant I had to go all around his chest. Again, I had to look at him and he looked at me teasingly, "By the way you're turning red." This comment, of course, made me blush more. "Shut up."

He laughed and finally I was done. I looked around for a shirt and found a black shirt with the word "No." A smile crossed my face as I threw it at him and as Nico looked at the shirt he smirked in approval, "Who ever used to live here had good taste." I rolled my eyes and walked to the other bedroom.

It had a mirror, and when I looked into it I sighed.

My stupid, semi-curly brown hair was a mess, my red shirt was ripped and dirty in numerous places, and my golden eyes seemed almost washed out. I looked terrible, how people live with mirrors, constantly reminding you of your flaws, will always be a mystery to me. I leaned on the mirror and sighed, then sat on the bed and thought about my stupid life. Then I remembered the cliff.

_Okay winds make it breezy in here._ I willed and suddenly it felt like there was a fan blowing my hair, _whoa._

I went out and sat on the beach, the salty air refreshing me as I looked down at all of my scars. There were ones that were faded, others were still healing, but they all were there. I picked up one of the stones and threw it across the waves on the ocean and it sailed into the sunset.

"Nice throw." I turned to find Nico standing behind me; I turned and looked back at the ocean. If it hadn't of been for me leaving that cave then Nico wouldn't have had those wounds on his back…The winds around me started blowing fiercer than before.

Still he walked up to me, "Thanks for getting me all fixed up." He said to me and I refused to return his gaze, "If it hadn't of been for me I wouldn't have had to have done that." He said nicely, "Look, it wasn't your fault, Faith look at me." I didn't and he reached over and gently brought my chin in his direction so I'd have to look at him.

When I finally did look into his eyes he murmured, "I'm not mad." Then the winds around us died and he smiled lightly, he let his hand drop and he looked out over the ocean, "So, do you want to go back to camp? It's a place where you'd be safe from monsters. Look I'm not making you come with me, it's your choice. Can you just tell me before tomorrow afternoon? Because if you've made up your decision to come with me you can come, if you don't tell me or you don't want to I'll leave on my own."

Then he walked away, and I found myself _wanting _to follow him. I wanted to learn more about Nico, and why he saved me…

I looked at him walking back to the shack and I said, "I'll go with you Nico!" he looked over his shoulder and I caught a smile on his face then he kept on walking. Yep, I defiantly wanted to know more about him. That I was sure about.


	3. Camp Half-Blood

The next day I woke up and found Nico staring at the ceiling, I knocked on the door and he looked at me, "Morning." I said and he sat up, "Yeah-" then he winced as he sat up, I sat down beside him, "I think your bandages need to be changed." He nodded and took off his shirt. He just stared ahead as I took off the bandages, I looked at the wounds. "Well it looks better than yesterday…"

The truth was it looked worse than before; he needed some serious medics, not me. I just cleaned the wounds again and put another bandage on it and Nico muttered, "You are a terrible liar Faith." I looked down sadly, "Sorry, I didn't want to worry you…" I could see him roll his eyes, and I helped him put the shirt back on.

He stood up weakly and said, "Hold my hand." I raised my eyebrow, "What?" Nico sighed, "If you want to go to camp hold my hand." Awkwardly I reached over and held it. Nico closed his eyes and then suddenly we melted into the shadows.

I've never liked the dark, maybe it's because of all the monsters that lurk there, but none the less it's never been a favorite place of mine. So traveling in complete darkness with nothing I was sure about but that Nico was still holding onto my hand wasn't the best experience of my life.

I clamped my eyes closed and imagined that I wasn't here, that I lived a different life. Not my crazy, messed up, and terrible life. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder, "You can open your eyes Faith." I heard Nico say and when I did we were in some woods.

Then Nico staggered and leaned on a tree, his forehead was beaded with sweat. "Nico, are you alright?" He breathed heavily, "Yeah, I'm just grand. Traveling half way across the United Stated with a couple cuts in my back and getting someone with me was a breeze."

_Well at least he can make sarcastic comments._ I thought to myself as I put my arm around his shoulder as I helped him up and he pointed in the direction of the camp. After some time I came up to a hill and found a huge camp spread out before me. There was everything from a lake to woods, to rock wall, and cabins.

"Where are the medics?" Nico pointed to small building and muttered, "The infirmary." I struggled to go down the hill with Nico while trying not to fall and trip, but I managed. Nico muttered, with his eyes drooping, "The claws must have been poisoned on that monster because I feel like crud right now." I stared at him, worried, and I said to him, "Just hang in there."

His eyes closed and then I started yelling, "Help! Somebody please!" I yelled until some campers with bows and arrows on their backs came running up to me (seeing the bows and arrows were a first for me but right now I was too worried to care.) "What happened to him?" one of them asked and I said quickly, "Monsters attacked us and it must have had poisoned claws-"The boy looked at me with concern, "How long ago was this?" "Yesterday." He looked at Nico with wide eyes, "Come on, we need to get him to the infirmary fast!"

Two of the other campers put their arms around his shoulder and started sprinting with him to the infirmary. The boy that had first came up to us looked me, "Did you get cut?" I looked at me arm, "Yeah, but it's not as bad, I don't think mine was poisoned." He held out his hand and reached for my arm, "Let me look at it." I lifted my arm up and he gently unwrapped the bandage, _oh, maybe I should've been worried about my arm._

My cut looked like and infection had set in, it had bruised and it looked just plain bad. The boy looked at me, "Come on, let's get you to the infirmary and get your arm checked out." He didn't even seem fazed by the cut, unlike me who was still praying that it wouldn't start bleeding again.

As we were walking he said, "I'm Will Solace, Son of Apollo." "I'm Faith Lacy, I don't really know who my parent is yet." He raised his eyebrow, "Weird I thought the gods promised to claim their children by the time they were- ah never mind I'm sure that you'll find out who your parent is sooner or later."

Once we were in the infirmary I sat at a little station for "minor wounds", I looked at the sign in this part of the infirmary with a frown. _If this was a "minor wound" what was a major one?_ Will came over to me with what looked like lemon square, "Eat this, it'll help." I looked at the lemon square and sighed as I ate it.

The weirdest thing happened; it didn't taste like lemon at all! It tasted like chocolate to me, "What in the world?" I muttered as I finished it, Will laughed, "That's ambrosia, it heals you, and it tastes like your um… what is it, 'comfort food'." I only had had chocolate once in my life, it was amazing. I looked at him, "Whoa, so what about my arm?" he tapped his chin, "I'll clean it up, put another bandage on it and it should be heal in a couple of days."

After around ten minutes I was all set and he sat down next to me, "So how'd you meet Nico?" I explained how I was on my own, monsters attacked and he helped me out of there, how I'd ran away and how he'd saved me. Then I also explained how we survived the cliff fall. Will raised his eyebrow, "Weird, the only other demigod that I know that can control the winds is Jason." I shrugged and stood up, "I'll figure it out later, but can I check on Nico?" Will nodded and led me deeper into the infirmary to where he was.

A couple campers were around him, they all had the same bows and arrows that Will had and I guessed that they all were children of Apollo. _Man that guy's been busy hasn't he?_ Another odd thing they all looked around the same age…

Nico lay on a table, with his back up, and he seemed half asleep. I stood there in the doorway and Will put his hand on my shoulder, "He'll be fine, we got him here just in time." I felt guilty all over again as I looked at Nico.

Will crossed his arms, "You can check on him later, right now I'll show you around Camp Half-Blood." I wanted to stay with Nico and make sure that he'd be alright but Will was already walking away and I didn't want to feel the guilt I was feeling.

With a heavy heart I followed Will and he looked at me, "Do you want to see the cabins?" I shrugged, "Surprise me." Will trudged on to what looked like a farm house he pointed it and told me, "See that, it's the Big House. I want to you to meet Chiron." I think I recalled Chiron, wasn't he that centaur that trained heroes in ancient Greek legend? No he can't still be alive.

I soon found out that he was very much alive. He stood on the porch centaur and all, I gawked at him, and Will laughed. Chiron looked over the camp then when he saw Will and I coming towards him he uncrossed his arms. "Afternoon Will." Then he glanced at me, "Who's this?" the way he said it wasn't rude, but he seemed genuinely curious. Will said casually, "This is Faith, Faith this is Chiron." Chiron smiled at me, and asked Will, "Does she know her godly parent?" he shook his head and Chiron nodded, "Well Will, you can show her around the camp and maybe her parent will claim her." Will nodded and started to walk away, I waved to Chiron and he smiled back.

"Can you show me to the cabins? I want to see some of the other campers." I asked and Will nodded. His blond hair swept over his eyes as he smiled at me, "Sure." Will led me around the camp talking about the different things that we passed and I was getting happier that I came here by the minute.

Finally we came to the cabins, there were so many and each cabin almost had its own personality. There was a dark red one with barbed wire and when Will saw me looking at it he pointed to it, "Try to stay away from that cabin and its campers, that's the Ares cabin. The bottom line about that cabin is to try and stay away from them." I nodded getting the jest and we walked by numerous other ones, one cabin was blue and it guessed, "That's the Poseidon cabin?" he nodded and replied, "Only one Poseidon kid, Percy Jackson, you'll hear a lot about the guy-"

"Who's the new girl?" asked a boy, he looked around seventeen, messy brown hair, and sea-green eyes. He looked at me with a raised eye brow Will whispered, "That's him." Percy rolled his eyes and asked me, "Is Will spreading rumors about me?" I shook my head and Will laughed, "If any rumors do start up you'd probably have the Stoll brothers to blame for that."

Percy asked, "What's your name?" "Faith." He smiled, "Well hey Faith, hope you find your cabin." He walked away with his hands in his pocket and I saw him pull out a little regular ball point pen. He seemed like a really chilled guy, but likeable enough, I looked at Will and he said, "That guy is a living legend, and one thing don't mess with his girlfriend Annabeth or else he will flip out on you."

Then we were walking past some of the cabins, one of them looked like a casino, another was filled with trophies and then there was one that stopped me dead in my tracks.

It looked like a regular cabin expect for the fact that it was covered in murals of the different seasons and it felt a little different depending on where you stood around the cabin. _Come in. _said a voice in my head, and almost without thinking I did what it told me, and when I opened the door I closed my eyes and it felt…_right. _It was almost as if I was supposed to be in here.

The cabin was empty and then I noticed what I thought was a statue; only it was so detailed I could almost guess that it was real. He had a red shirt, Bermuda shorts, sandals, and curly black hair. He had beautiful brown wings that were tinged with golden and red wings too. The most striking thing about him was his eyes; they looked golden, like a sunset on a warm summer's night "Hello Faith." It said and I jumped back into Will. I looked at him and asked, "Do you see him too?" Will nodded and said, "I can verify that he isn't one of the campers here."

The man stood up and smiled, "Yes Will Solace, I'm not a camper here, I'm Favonius." I looked up at him and he smiled down at me, Will looked at him, "Are you claiming her?" Favonius nodded to him and smiled sadly at me, "I must go Faith, but know I'm watching over you." With those words he disappeared into red and gold wind and left what felt like a summer's breeze.

So that was my dad? Will put his hand on my shoulder, "Are you alright?" I nodded and said, "Well it looks like I've found my cabin, do you know if I have any brothers or sisters?" Will shrugged, "No you're the only child of Favonius, which is actually the Roman form of Zephyrus, but we aren't too picky here. Any who, we figured that since the gods of the winds were all related pretty closely we'd just make a cabin and have all of the kids of them in here. We've found a Son of Boreas, but that's it."

I sat down on one of the beds and sighed, "Well, I'm sure you have things to do, you can go…plus I need a little time to think."

He nodded and left without another word.

Had my dad watched over me even when I was being chased by those monsters, why hadn't he helped me? Why had he just appeared to me _now? _Why not a couple years back when the monsters had just started trying to kill me?!

"Who are you?" I heard a voice say in the doorway, he was wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and had black hair that was back in a small think pony tail. His eyes were dark brown like melted milk chocolate and he was kind of pale. He looked probably a year older than me.

I stood up, "Faith, I'm a daughter of Favonius, what's your name?" he said, "Cole. I think you know who I'm the Son of." I nodded and said, "Yeah, you're the Son of Boreas."

He walked up to me and sat down in the bed next to me, and I sat back down, "I heard that a new camper had just gotten here with Nico di Angelo." He chuckled, "You know that boy never sticks around for too long, he spends most of his time in the Underworld." _He did? _I looked at Cole and raised my eyebrow, "I didn't know that." He crossed, "That about all that most of us know about the Son of Hades."

He looked at me and asked, "You don't have a lot of things do you?" I nodded and sighed, "I've lived without a home for all of my life, it's not like I _could've_ had a lot of things." He pulled a couple of things out of his trunk by his bed, "Here are some shirts, they might be a little big but they're better than nothing." I smiled at him and took the shirts, "Thank you Cole." He shrugged, "Don't worry about it, they're just shirts."

This was the first time somebody had given me something, ever. I didn't take that lightly, though he looked like he didn't want me to thank me any more so just smiled again.

Cole and I just talked about different things until he said, "Hey it looks like it's time for dinner, come on." AT the pavilion he told me to just ask for what you wanted to eat and drink and it'd appear. "How about steak, medium rare, and some mashed potatoes?" I asked and poof! It was there, and then I asked for some water. It appeared and I tried something, "Make it bubbly water." Bubbles started forming and I stared at my cup Cole laughed, "You look like you've never had bubbly water." "Well I haven't!"

Then after we ate we had campfire and I kept looking around for Nico, and I remembered he was probably still in the infirmary. That really dampened my mood.

After campfire I walked without anyone to the infirmary and I found Nico right where I remembered him. Everything was dark in there except the rooms/places with people in them. Those were lit with a candle. When I found him, he was asleep, I sat down in a chair in front of him and let my head drop, "I'm sorry…" I whispered and his eyes slowly opened, "Faith?" he asked and I muttered, "I'm sorry I woke you up, I'll go." He said sleepily, "Stop apologizing, it's fine. I'm getting fixed up; you don't have to worry about it. Enjoy camp." He muttered as he fell back asleep and put my face in my hands.

The fact that this was all because of my and he wasn't mad just made me feel even worse! I wished right now that it was me that it happened to and not him. I stood up and heard footsteps, _oh crud, I'm not supposed to be out late!_ I recalled as I thought of Cole telling me that earlier.

I tip-toed out and felt a pair of hands out in the darkness ran into me, "Agh!" I exclaimed as I fell back into Nico's room. A teenager with blond hair, electric blue eyes, and a little scar over his lip stood in the doorway. "What are you doing here?" he asked, and I looked over at Nico, he seemed to get my message.

The guy nodded and leaned in the doorway, "You know him?" "Nico brought me here, if it hadn't of been for him I'd probably be dead." He said, "By the way I'm Jason, Jason Grace." "I'm Faith Lacy."

Jason sat in the other chair and looked over at Nico, and I stood up, "I better get back to my cabin." When I got back I found Cole already asleep and I quickly followed.

Nico falling off the cliff played into my dreams, only this time I couldn't do anything about it. He fell and fell…I woke up in a cold sweat with tears running down my face.


	4. Capture the Flag

The next morning I went out and found that the sun was just rising, it looked like I was the only one up. So I decided to go and check on Nico again, as I was walking I was thinking about how I was Roman, not Greek, yet here I was. Maybe I should check out that other camp Will mentioned. Like stay here for the summer, then go to that camp next summer, _oh I'll figure it out later. _I said to myself.

At the infirmary I followed the path I took yesterday and found Nico getting dressed, _why now, why?_ I asked myself as I started to walk away, "Hey Faith." Nico said as I started to turn around I felt a blush of embarrassment crawl up my cheek, "Sorry, is this a bad time?" I asked Nico laughed, "It's alright, could you help me get to my cabin, I don't want to trip." I nodded and wrapped my arm around his shoulder and we both started to walk.

"So are you feeling better?" I asked and Nico nodded. Then he raised his eyebrow at me, "So…Daughter of Favonius huh?"

_What-how in the world does he know?! Does he have ninja spies or something?_ I wondered as I laughed, "How do you know?" "A little birdie told me." I laughed and I saw him give me a small grin. After a little bit of walking we came up to his cabin, dark obsidian lined the walls and skulls were lined on the roof.

Not my taste, this place could use a decorator, but I opened the door into the cabin and set Nico onto one of the few beds. "Thanks." He said to me and I smiled, "No problem Nico, just yell if you need anything." He nodded and closed his eyes; I quietly slipped out and trudged back to my cabin.

Cole was still sleeping, with half of his body hanging out of the bed and drool hanging out of his mouth; I had to stifle a laugh. I was really glad Cole was here; even though we just met he's like a big brother to me, I prayed that we would stay friends for a long time.

Over the rest of the day I tried my hand at a number of activities, building things, (that ended in Leo permanently banning me from the forge) canoeing, (I tied with Percy in that) archery (I at least managed not to kill anyone, so that was an accomplishment) and finally campfire came around. I found Nico standing in the back, looking grim, which made me wonder if it was because of something, if this was how he normally was, or the whole camp (terribly) singing camp fire songs.

After that I was down by the docks and found Nico sitting there. "Hey." I said to him as I sat down beside him and let my legs hang over the side of the dock. He looked at me, "Hey Faith." I had a question pop back into my head, "Hey Nico, have you ever wanted to be somebody else?"

Nico's eyes seemed far away, almost as far away as the stars. "Almost every day of my life." I nodded and felt sympathy for him, "Same here." Nico raised his eye brow at me, "Even though I wish I sometimes wasn't me, I'm glad I met you and not someone else."

Was I blushing?

Probably.

I laughed awkwardly and felt a smile, "Well I'm glad I met you too." Suddenly I felt very tired and without thinking, I laid my head on his shoulder and he asked, "You tired?" I rolled my eye sleepily, "No…" he smiled gently, "Sorry, it was a stupid question, go to sleep. I'll go take you to your cabin." I nodded, with my eyes already closing.

In less than a minute I was asleep, though I could feel Nico easily pick me up. With him so close I could hear my heart: _thump thump, thump thump. _ I prayed that he couldn't hear it too.

He gently laid me on my bed and did something I didn't expect, I felt him kiss my forehead. "Good night Faith." He murmured and I heard him walk away. _Was I starting to fall for Nico?_ I asked myself. _No, I can't be… _I went over all of the good qualities about him then finally said to myself, _okay maybe._

The next day Chiron announced that we were going to be doing Capture the Flag. Percy smiled, I looked over at Nico, and he seemed almost bored. Cole sighed, "I hate Capture the Flag, Percy's always on the other team, and I always getting water up my nose and stuck in my ears." He grumbled to me and I told him, "Sorry Cole, but I'll be worse off than you if I can't find a weapon." He thought for a moment and put his finger up, I swear if I light bulb popped up above his head I wouldn't be surprised.

After breakfast he took me to the sword fighting arena and we found Percy, Cole waved him down, "Hey Percy, Faith needs a sword!" he exclaimed as Percy walked over to us, he asked me, "You're a child of Favonius, he's a Roman god isn't he?" I nodded and Percy gestured to follow him, there was a small chest and he opened it, it was full of golden weapons. "This is Imperial Gold, Roman, Camp Jupiter sent some here in case we found Roman demigods, and we sent some Celestial Bronze." He tossed me a sword and asked. "How does that sword feel?"

I swung it a couple time just to see how it felt and I smiled, "It feels good." Percy nodded and pointed at it with his bronze sword. "That's a _spatha_, a Roman cavalry sword." I gripped it and smiled at him, "Thanks Percy!" he shrugged then clicked his sword and it shrunk into a regular ballpoint pen. Though considering everything at camp this didn't surprise me.

I came back with the sword and Cole examined it,

"Looks good, I think it suits you."

"Thanks Cole, so do you know anyone who can give me sword lessons?"

"Other than Percy?"

"Preferably."

"Nope."

Nico came up beside me and I wondered how he could sneak up on me all of the time. "How about me?" he asked and I shrugged, trying to put the events of last night behind me. "Alright."

For the _rest_ of the day Nico worked me out, and parried me, swung at me, and I never beat him. I lasted for about a minute in just sword to sword combat. "Good job." He said, just as hot and tired as I was. "Thanks, I'm going to have bruises for a week and we have Capture the Flag in an hour so thanks for tiring me but I think I'm going to take a short nap." Nico laughed breathlessly to me and sheathed his sword.

When Capture the Flag came around the other cabins on our team was: Hephaestus cabin, Aphrodite cabin, Poseidon cabin, Nike cabin, Demeter cabin, and Hermes cabin. I have to say I was a little disappointed to find out that Nico was on the other team, "You aren't going to get any special treatment." He assured me as he went off to his team. I rolled my eyes and said back to him, "I wasn't expecting you to give me any."

When Capture the Flag started Percy was the leader, "We'll take a small team around the long way to go to Zeus's fist, meanwhile we'll have a larger team charge head on to distract them. Then Hephaestus will be the defense, Hermes cabin spilt up, whoever wants to go to me to get the flag can come, the rest of you will be with the Hephaestus."

I never would've thought that Percy is the tactical type but on the battle felid he was unmistakable as the leader. It looked like I was part of the larger group that was the distraction.

_Fun._

The rest of the cabins that weren't on the defense and I creeped forwards and suddenly Ares kids surrounded us, and all chaos broke loose.

We all spread out to take on an Ares kid, it was about four to one, and I saw Cole spot something in the woods and dash off, "Cole!" I yelled as I fought with an Ares kid then someone out in the darkness threw their sword at me, I panicked and used my powers to blow it sideways.

"Ow!" I heard someone exclaim loudly and painfully in the woods. I ran off to see if it had really hurt someone and when I found where the sword had made its target I gasped.

_It hit Cole straight in the stomach._

"Cole!" I yelled as I ran up to him, his breathing was heavy and shallow. "Faith, that sword came out of nowhere-I-I don't know- " I felt tears well up, "Cole, save your breath, I need to find a medic for you." Cole sighed heavily, "I think we both know it's too deep in me to get out." _No, this can't be happening, Cole can't be dying and this can't be my fault! _ I felt a tear fall as I gripped his hand, "It's okay Faith, you'll be fine…" he murmured as his hand became limp.

"NO!" I yelled I broke down and sobbed , Percy came into the clearing with the flag in his hand, "Faith-" he saw Cole and muttered, "Oh gods…" he knelt down beside me and then the other campers came into the clearing, Nico ran and broke through the crowd and broke me away from Cole.

"No!" I sobbed as he wrapped his arms around me, I cried into his chest. "Sh…" he whispered to me as I cried, almost everything was silent except my cries throughout the woods. Someone picked Cole's limp body away as I was sitting there, and Nico stayed with me through that whole time.

At camp fire Cole was placed in a light blue shroud with snowflakes decorated around it, he looked so peaceful, he could almost be sleeping. _Please be a nightmare; please make me wake up from this nightmare._ I pleaded with myself though it seemed that I was stuck.

Chiron made a speech which I was too deep down in grief to hear, he handed me a torch and I slowly walked to Cole's shroud and I let the torch fall.

A tear fell as his shroud burned and I turned away, unable to look at who was once my friend. What was worse is that I killed him, accident or not it was still my fault. _I killed someone and nobody knows that!_ Terrible guilt weighted in my chest as I looked at the last of the shroud burning.

After hat was done, Nico came up to me and asked gently, "Do you want me to stay with you for the night?" I nodded numbly, he walked with me back to y cabin in silence and that was perfectly okay with me.

Nico crawled into a bed and I did too, I fell asleep and dreamed.

We were playing Capture the Flag and this time when it hit Cole, Nico was in the clearing. He looked at me like I was a monster, "Cole's dead and it's all your fault!" he yelled and I tried to run but something seemed to stop me and then when I turned away I saw Nico falling off the cliff again, he looked at me as he fell and something was holding me back.

"No!" I sobbed as I woke up; I looked around frantically and found Nico running to me, "Faith." He murmured as he sat next to me, "It's fine, I'm here, I' not going to let anything hurt you." I felt the tears coming all over again as he wrapped me up in his arms again. He wiped the tears from my eyes and looked into my eyes, "Go to sleep, if you need to cry, cry. Don't hold them back, especially around me, I understand."

_No, you don't. You didn't kill your friend. _ Is what i wanted to say but I surrendered to sleep again as I listened to the steady beat of his heart.


	5. Confessions

The next few days were worst for me, it felt as if when I killed Cole someone had handed me a shovel and over the next few days I'd dug a hole, without a way out. Only getting deeper and deeper. I started speaking to people less, even to Nico. My only escape was when I practiced sword fighting, and it didn't matter with whom.

Guilt bore into me every time I walked into the cabin or sat at the table during the meals, and what was worse is that I couldn't tell anyone. If they knew they'd probably "exile" me or something (and even if they didn't have such thing as "exile" they'd probably make one up for me!)

One afternoon while I was sparring with Nico he said while fighting, "Faith, come on can't you talk or something?" I didn't want to, so I kept on fighting and finally Nico just dropped his sword, "That's it." He said crossing his arms, "I'm not helping you sword fight until you talk."

_Gods, why does Nico have to be so stubborn? _I frowned at him and sighed, "Fine, I talked, happy?" Nico smirked and then had a thought occur to him, "Geez is this how people normally see me?" I shrugged and said simply, "I don't talk much anymore, how should I know?" Nico still kept his arms crossed as I asked, "Can we get back to practicing?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"I don't think that's what you need."

"Then what exactly 'do I need'?!"

Nico sat down on a bench and said calmly, "You need to talk." I was silent, and he rolled his eyes, "Look I get your sad that Cole died but that's not reason to go into seclusion! What happened to make you like this?" I turned away from him and chocked back the tears that were starting to well up, "Can we please not talk about it?" Nico stood up and looked at me concerned, "No, Faith, I think that's exactly why you need to talk about it." I stared daggers at him, "Since when did you become my therapist?! I don't want to talk about it, end of story!" I gripped my _spatha_ as I stormed away, leaving Nico looking at my back.

Over the next few hours I thought long and hard, and then I finally made my decision. I was headed back into the mortal world or at least to the other camp for Roman demigods, Camp Jupiter.

I looked at the cabin one last time before grabbing my few things and walking away, I heard footsteps behind me. "What do you want Nico?" I asked as someone who _wasn't_ Nico came up beside me.

Jason raised his eyebrow at me and said, "Hm…don't know how you mistook me for Nico, but I just came to ask where in Pluto are you going?" I stopped and looked at him, "I'm leaving, camp just isn't for me, and it's great in all but I just can't stay here…Can you tell Nico that I left?" He nodded and held out his hand, I shook it and walked away.

I know I know, running away from your problems is never the solution but right now I didn't see any other way. If I stayed there I would've driven myself insane. Once I was on the road I took one last look and saw the tip of _Thalia's Tree,_ and I said my final goodbyes to the place.

Even now the image of Cole burned into my mind every time I closed my eyes; it was like a knife that dug dipper into me every day.

I'd been walking so long along the road that the sun had started to set and I heard some rustling in the trees a little ways off. Half-mindedly I scrambled into the bushes where I'd been able to see whatever it was but if I made the slightest movement it's be able to see me.

"Faith?!" yelled a voice as a figure burst into the clearing, "Maybe she went the other way, if she did and I ever find her I swear to Hades…" he said, though it didn't sound angry it sound just like whoever was looking for me was truly desperate.

Then he stepped into the falling rays of the sun and I saw who it was, Nico. I left to get away from everyone yet here he was. Standing there, with his forehead covered in sweat and I thought he couldn't look better.

He sat down and part of me wanted to run to him, the other part was too afraid to even breathe. I stared from where I was crouched and bit my lip, then Nico got up and started to walk away, "Please be okay." He murmured that I heard. My heart, whatever was left of it, broke.

I slowly stood up to walk away as a tear fell from my eye, and –CRUNCH! I looked down to find that I'd stepped on a twig. _If there's a twig goddess I'm going to go up to her and slap her._ I heard Nico slowly walk back and I didn't dare move. "Faith?" he asked quietly and I slowly turned around, though I didn't look him in the eyes.

He ran up and embraced me tightly, "Jason told me that you'd left, and I didn't know what that meant so I checked all around camp then I started down the road and I thought that you'd gotten lost or-""I'm fine Nico," then I used what was left of my strength and gently pushed him off of me, "but I left to get away from everyone…"

I could see in his eyes that I'd hurt him, "Why, if this is about Cole, it _wasn't _your fault!" I put my face in my hands and sighed, and another tear fell, "That's the problem, it _WAS_ my fault!" I said practically sobbing, "When we were playing Capture the Flag a sword came out at me from nowhere and I panicked and used by powers to keep it from hitting me and it-it hit Cole…"

Nico looked at me, with an expression I couldn't decipher and I whispered, "I killed him…" He stepped closer to me and said kindly, "It was an accident, you couldn't have planned that." He reached out and held my hand, "Some people say that hanging on makes you stronger…" I looked up at him and he gently held my face in his hand, "But sometime you need to let go." I looked at him and said sadly, "I wish it were that easy, but…" he raised his eye brow as if to ask, _is it?_

I took a deep breath, thought about Cole for a minute then whispered to myself, _I'm sorry for everything Cole, please if you can hear me and have forgiven me give me a sign._

Just then a cool breeze blew, and a white owl perched on a branch in front of me, and then disappeared. _Thank you Cole, good bye. _ And with that thought, I let go.

Nico looked at me and let his hand drop, "Now I'm going to ask one last time, and please be honest with me." I nodded and he looked straight into my eyes, "Are you okay?" I smiled at him and murmured, "I think I am."

After that we went walking and we found a shore, the waves crashed on the beach and now with the moon over head it was beautiful. We sat down and Nico looked up at the stars, "You know my sister Bianca told me something. Stars are a lot like people, there are billions of them, some are in more places than others, some aren't as bright, and some go out.

We believe that stars are millions of miles away from each other, but if you just look up they're right by each other. And the star closest to you the person you love the most." He smiled sadly and then continued, "For a long time I thought that it was someone who was at camp but…" I raised my eye brow at him and asked, "'but', what?" Nico reached over and intertwined his hands in between mine and he said quietly, "…but then I met you."

My eyes widened as I stared at him, _was this really happening? __Nico di Angelo, LIKES me?! _I blushed at him and I smiled, "Nico, you think I'm your closest star?" he nodded slowly studying my every move and I smiled, "Well I think you're mine too."

We both looked at each other for a while I think it was starting to get awkward and I said blushing bright red, "So I think that we're supposed to kiss." Nico laughed, and I saw him slightly blushing too, "I don't think you had to say that, I think you just made it ten times more awkward now."

I shrugged and we both laughed, I had a feeling that as awkward as it is now that it means we both like each other (hopefully) and that it'll be okay from now on now that we both have each other's back.

"So what now, I think we're both over camp." I asked Nico and he shrugged, "Look for more demigods, kill monsters, hopefully not die." "Of course." I replied and then he smiled at me we looked into each other's eyes and knew that we were ready.

So right there in the moonlight we kissed, and it was amzing.


End file.
